Lions-Bears leads Sunday TV fare

  The Lions’ Calvin Johnson catches a pass in Sunday’s game against the Chicago Bears (Photo: AP/Charles Rex Arbogast/ESPNChicago.com) But ratings down 25% from year ago season opener The Chicago Bears may have lucked themselves into a victory on Sunday, but at least did the job in the ratings department. According to Crain’s Chicago Business, the Bears season opener at […]

4:30 a.m. news: The sensation that’s sweeping the nation

It’s no longer a rush to get into the 4:30 a.m. news business – it’s a stampede. Consider this – a recent search of TVNewsCheck of “4:30” turned up a whopping 115 items., with most of the stories featuring stations starting 4:30 a.m. newscasts in the past year, or so. This isn’t a rush – it’s a stampede. Get the […]

T Dog’s Grab Bag: Exit, stage left…

..and other media news of note: – Kevin Manno is exiting his afternoon gig at alt-rock WKQX-FM (Q101) to take a job hosting a yet-to-be named weekday show on MTV according to CRM. The new show debuts on September 20 and is scheduled to air weekdays at 5 p.m. Manno’s old shift is being filled temporarily by James VanOdsol. This […]

TCA: Wasting away on the "Jersey Shore"

The Television Critics Association Press Tour came to an end on Saturday with the last three days devoted to cable networks. In the past, cable usually kicked off the press tour, but this year shoved toward the end of the twelve-day tour. Neverthless, critics stayed through the end, with the HBO presentation playing to full capacity on Saturday. The biggest […]

T Dog’s Four Pack – Olympic sized fun

A midweek edition of T Dog’s Four Pack: What’s not – and what’s not: Worthy of Gold Olympic hockey. Nothing hokey about it – most watched program ever in Canada, third most-watched hockey game in history in the United States – and we had four Blackhawks in the game! Undercover Boss. Whaaa? This is the surprise Sunday Night 8 p.m. […]

T Dog’s Groovy Grab Bag – The TCA edition

For the next nine or so days, television critics (or those who are left) will be at the Television Critics Association Press Tour in Pasadena, Calif. for Q&A sessions on the new fall shows, countless press releases, and sharp exchanges with network execs (sorry, no more Ben Silverman.) Here are some of the early highlights of the tour: – TBS […]

TCA Notes

More from The TCA tour in La-La Land: Viacom/MTV Networks: (CMT, MTV, VH-1, Comedy Central, TVLand) – Comedy Central introduced a slew of projects, including a new version of camp classic The Gong Show with new host and alleged comedian Dave Attell. He’s about as funny as Olivia Munn (hey, I used up my Jim Belushi jokes…) The last time […]

Is Tribune abandoning The CW? (updated)

Probably not, but if The CW doesn’t make it into season four, Tribune is creating a contingency plan – just in case. Tribune owns fifteen CW affiliates, including WGN-TV in Chicago, WPIX in New York and KTLA in Los Angeles. However, CW officials deny their network is going out of business anytime soon, pointing to the increased haul they took […]

PTC to Hip-Hop: You’re next

The boisterous group is now targeting MTV and BET, in a really pathetic attempt to act like they care about the African-American Community (but it might not help given the Parents Television Council is also targeting the equally grating Tyra Banks and her “reality” show.)

Another reason to cancel your cable subscription

Besides the cable news channels and Chris Berman: MTV greenlights Paris Hilton reality series, titled Paris Hilton’s My New BFF. A Bachelor knockoff clearly targeted for the “whatever” generation. Don’t know what BFF stands for (code word for slave, perhaps? Yeah, the “winner” of this show gets to work on the Paris plantation – what a prize!), but I’m betting […]

WADL steps up in the Motor City

After years of crummy programming (infomercials, home shopping, etc.), Adelll-owned WADL-TV in Detroit is making a serious bid to compete for those TV advertising dollars with the other stations in town – by targeting the market’s African-American population. The station, which signed on in 1985, had been airing mostly paid religious fare and infomericals. At one time, the station was […]

VMAs draws 7.1 million

Up 23 percent from last year. At least we know now that Britney Spears’ performance had a lot in common with the Bears’ and Browns’ performances on the same day – you know, that aroma you smell when somebody passes gas.